A North American manufacturer of steel products recently announced that construction will begin on two new projects that will boost its capacity to meet demand for carbon and alloy steel products in its U.S. Midwestern and Plains markets.

Nucor Corporation, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, will build a full-range merchant bar quality (MBQ) mill at its existing bar steel mill located in Bourbonnais, Illinois. The MBQ mill will have an annual capacity of 500,000 tons and is expected to cost $180 million. The project will take approximately two years to complete. This project will allow Nucor to fully utilize the company’s existing bar mill by optimizing its melt capacity and infrastructure that is already in place.

In addition, the steel producer will build a rebar micro mill in Sedalia, Missouri, about 90 miles east of Kansas City. The new micro mill project represents at least $250 million in new investments, with the expectation of creating 255 full-time jobs, and anticipates start-up in 2019 pending the final approval and award of state and local incentives as well as required permits and regulatory approvals.

Nucor will be able to take advantage of abundant scrap supply in both locations.

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